


Fashion and the Arts (of Subtlety)

by FrostOnGalway



Series: How Asajj Ventress Saved the Galaxy [5]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Fashion Show, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:20:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21802804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostOnGalway/pseuds/FrostOnGalway
Summary: Padmé is doing her best to be a mom/friend/whatever. Ahsoka enjoys mocking her because Padmé can't do subtle.(Takes place during Chapter 7 of Zero Credit while Ahsoka and Padmé are at the lakehouse on Naboo and it's raining outside. Gotta have something to do besides have mopey flashbacks about Anakin.)
Relationships: Padmé Amidala & Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker (mentioned)
Series: How Asajj Ventress Saved the Galaxy [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1351375
Comments: 14
Kudos: 92





	Fashion and the Arts (of Subtlety)

When Ahsoka gets up from her meditation with a stretch, Padmé snaps her book of poetry shut and says, “We should do something fun.”

“Like what?”

“Well, it’s still raining pretty heavily.” She contemplates their options. Padmé’s idea of fun these days is mostly sitting on the couch with a glass of wine, but her teenage years honestly weren’t that much more exciting. She remembers when she was little and she and Sola would . . . “We should have a fashion show!”

“A what?”

“You and the other younglings never tried on your masters’ clothes?”

“Well, no. They would’ve been way to big for us. And anyway, we’d have to steal their clothes first, which is generally frowned upon.”

Padmé rolls her eyes. “That’s part of the fun. The too-bigness, not the stealing. You ask permission, first. When we were young, Sola and I would try on our mother’s fancy dresses and have a show. Everything was too big, but it was fun to pretend and try new things.”

“Is this another one of those normal-kids-who-played-and-did-fun-stuff kinds of things?” Ahsoka asks.

“Apparently. Do you want to try it? I’ve got closets full of old royal gowns and things that will probably fit you.”

“Sure, why not?

Dressing Ahsoka in her old gowns is . . . wow. At first, Padmé chooses the dresses. She tries to find the less bulky things that Ahsoka will feel more comfortable in, and colors that she thinks will complement Ahsoka’s skin. And Ahsoka looks _good_ in Padmé’s choices, but when she sees the girl looking with interest at a very big and very purple dress that Padmé wore to a charity ball when she was campaigning for election as queen, Padmé urges her to try it on. She doesn’t expect Ahsoka to like it, considering how Ahsoka usually prefers somber reds and browns, but the girl seems very taken with it. Padmé did say the fun was in trying new things.

She lets Ahsoka take the lead after that, mostly hanging back and narrating when she wore what and helping with zippers and laces.

They both really like Ahsoka in a grey dress that Padmé had with her when she was on Coruscant during the Naboo Invasion. It takes a bit of wrangling to get the headdress to fit Ahsoka, but the end result is worth the effort.

“I feel so regal,” Ahsoka says, straightening up and folding her hands in front of herself. Then she starts moving her arms so that the enormous sleeves flap back and forth, and the effect is ruined. They both break into laughter.

Ahsoka’s eyes are also caught by a backless rainbow dress Padmé remembers fondly. “I wore that the first time Anakin and I kissed,” she says.

Ahsoka hangs it up again. “I was going to try it, but I think that’d be weird now.”

“You can if you want to,” Padmé says. “I promise it’s not tainted with boy germs.”

“What a relief,” Ahsoka deadpans. She tries the dress, and yes, she looks good, but once it is on a young girl, Padmé also remembers just how very backless it is, and that she wore it with the intention to flirt.

She has a sudden urge to put disclaimers on half the dresses in here. _Warning: do not wear until you’re ready for kissing_. She wonders if Ahsoka has put much thought into that sort of thing. Boys and kissing and _oh no, do I need to have a talk with her? Probably._

Ahsoka interrupts her musings. “What did you wear when you and Anakin got married?”

“Oh! My wedding dress? It’s here. Different closet, though. Come on, I’ll show it to you.”

Ahsoka hikes up the skirts on her rainbow dress and follows Padmé into the closet of the master bedroom. “Here it is,” Padmé says. She unwraps it with gentle hands.

“Oh, this is so gorgeous,” Ahsoka says. “I wish I could’ve been there.”

“I know. There are many people I wish we could’ve invited. It was just us and the priest and the droids. But that’s all we really needed.”

“Artoo and Threepio were there? Did Artoo take holos?”

“Yes. I have some copies tucked away somewhere.”

“Can we look at them after we get all the dresses put away?”

“Sure. I’ve never had anyone to show them all to before. I mean, all the handmaids know. But I don’t actually show them anything that concrete for the sake of plausible deniability.”

“Padmé, you know plausible deniability is pretty much out the window at this point, right?”

“What? No, it’s not.”

“Please,” Ahsoka says. “Everybody knows about you two.”

“Not everybody! Most of the people in the Senate just thinks we’re friends, if they even notice us at all. And the Jedi Council doesn’t know, or Anakin would be out of there by now.”

“The Council doesn’t say anything because they don’t have any actual proof, and they want Anakin to stay in the Order. But the entire 501st knows the two of you are a thing, which means the rest of the GAR knows. I don’t know about the Senate, but they probably at least gossip about you two.”

“No one believes gossip.”

“Right.”

“I’m serious.”

“And I think you’re not as sneaky as you think you are. But I’m letting it go,” she says and holds her hands up in a pacifying gesture. “I just want to see the holopics.”

“Well, that I can do. Let’s go get our mess cleaned up.”

**Author's Note:**

> So Ghost_Owl made a comment way back on Chapter 7 that Padmé should put Ahsoka in some of her old dresses, and I've been wanting to write that scene ever since. It turned out less about the fashion and more about Padmé getting low-key roasted, but I'm glad it's finally on paper. (Or screen. Whatever.)  
> I wrote this instead of sleeping. I also wrote it instead of writing Chapter 22 of Zero Credit. It's a big moment in the story and for me personally, so I want to get it right. There are many plot problems to fix and a tricky tone to set, so I've been strategizing. But I'm on winter break now so I can actually write. It will be out soon!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Subtleties of Fashion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22358152) by [FrostOnGalway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostOnGalway/pseuds/FrostOnGalway)




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